Naming the Big Bang

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helge Kragh
Keyword(s):  
Scientific Community ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Consensus Model ◽  
Initial State ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Modern Cosmology ◽  
Fred Hoyle ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Origin Of The Universe

The standard model of modern cosmology is known as the hot big bang, a name that refers to the initial state of the universe some fourteen billion years ago. The name Big Bang introduced by Fred Hoyle in 1949 is one of the most successful scientific neologisms ever. How did the name originate and how was it received by physicists and astronomers in the period leading up to the hot big bang consensus model in the late 1960s? How did it reflect the meanings of the origin of the universe, a concept that predates the name by nearly two decades? Contrary to what is often assumed, the name was not an instant success—it took more than twenty years before Big Bang became a household word in the scientific community. When it happened, it was used with different connotations, as is still the case. Moreover, it was used earlier and more frequently in popular than in scientific contexts, and not always relating to cosmology. It turns out that Hoyle’s celebrated name has a richer and more surprising history than commonly assumed and also that the literature on modern cosmology and its history includes many common mistakes and errors. An etymological approach centering on the name Big Bang provides supplementary insight to the historical understanding of the emergence of modern cosmology.

scholarly journals THE BEGINNING OF THE UNIVERSE AS AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL FRONTIER- LEMAÎTRE TO GAMOW

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-25
Author(s):  
João BARBOSA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Physical Knowledge ◽  
Cosmic Evolution ◽  
Modern Cosmology ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Atom Theory ◽  
Origin Of The Universe

It was in 1922, when Alexandre Friedmann proposed some models for cosmic evolution, that modern cosmology faced for the first time in a scientific way the problem of the origin of the universe. It was the inaugural step of the big bang cosmology (usually known as the Big Bang Theory), to which several important cosmologists contributed over the following decades. Among these cosmologists, there were two who played a special role: Georges Lemaître, who proposed the primeval atom theory, and George Gamow, who later assumed the hot and dense primordial state of the universe which contemporary cosmology continues to admit. In this paper, I present and compare the perspectives of these two great cosmologists towards the idea of the beginning of the universe as an epistemological frontier, that is, as an unsurpassable limit to the physical knowledge of the universe, namely with regard to an explanation of what caused this beginning and how the primordial universe had come into existence. Both cosmologists assumed that the beginning of our universe is located before everything that physics can achieve, but we can identify one important difference: according to Lemaître, the beginning of the universe is located before space and time, and we can admit that is an epistemological beginning and also an ontological beginning; according to Gamow, the beginning of our universe may have been the result of a preexistent cosmological state of the universe which is just inaccessible to physics, and therefore is not an ontological but just an epistemological beginning.

scholarly journals Relativistic Cosmology with an Introduction to Inflation

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (8) ◽  
pp. 276
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zahid Mughal ◽  
Iftikhar Ahmad ◽  
Juan Luis García Guirao
Keyword(s):  
Standard Model ◽  
Early Universe ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Relativistic Cosmology ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
Big Bang Model ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

In this review article, the study of the development of relativistic cosmology and the introduction of inflation in it as an exponentially expanding early phase of the universe is carried out. We study the properties of the standard cosmological model developed in the framework of relativistic cosmology and the geometric structure of spacetime connected coherently with it. The geometric properties of space and spacetime ingrained into the standard model of cosmology are investigated in addition. The big bang model of the beginning of the universe is based on the standard model which succumbed to failure in explaining the flatness and the large-scale homogeneity of the universe as demonstrated by observational evidence. These cosmological problems were resolved by introducing a brief acceleratedly expanding phase in the very early universe known as inflation. The cosmic inflation by setting the initial conditions of the standard big bang model resolves these problems of the theory. We discuss how the inflationary paradigm solves these problems by proposing the fast expansion period in the early universe. Further inflation and dark energy in fR modified gravity are also reviewed.

scholarly journals Large Scale Anisotropy of the Cosmic Microwave Background

1974 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. B. Partridge
Keyword(s):  
Angular Distribution ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Background Radiation ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
Initial State ◽  
Microwave Background Radiation ◽  
Cosmological Data ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

It is now generally accepted that the microwave background radiation, discovered in 1965 (Penzias and Wilson, 1965; Dicke et al., 1965), is cosmological in origin. Measurements of the spectrum of the radiation, discussed earlier in this volume by Blair, are consistent with the idea that the radiation is in fact a relic of a hot, dense, initial state of the Universe – the Big Bang. If the radiation is cosmological, measurements of both its spectrum and its angular distribution are capable of providing important – and remarkably precise – cosmological data.

Steady-State theory and the cosmological controversy

2019 ◽  
pp. 161-205
Author(s):  
Helge Kragh
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Steady State Model ◽  
Big Bang Theory ◽  
Big Bang Model ◽  
Fred Hoyle ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
State Universe

The presently accepted big-bang model of the universe emerged during the period 1930-1970, following a road that was anything but smooth. By 1950 the essential features of the big-bang theory were established by George Gamow and his collaborators, and yet the theory failed to win recognition. A major reason was that the big-bang picture of the evolving universe was challenged by the radically different picture of a steady-state universe favoured by Fred Hoyle and others. By the late 1950s there was no convincing reason to adopt one theory over the other. Out of the epic controversy between the two incompatible world models arose our modern view of the universe. Although the classical steady-state model was abandoned in the mid-1960s, attempts to modify it can be followed up to the present.

scholarly journals Big Bang Nucleosynthesis in Visible and Hidden-Mirror Sectors

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Paolo Ciarcelluti
Keyword(s):  
Dark Matter ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Dark Matter Candidate ◽  
Big Bang Nucleosynthesis ◽  
Enhanced Production ◽  
The Standard Model ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Mirror Matter

One of the still viable candidates for the dark matter is the so-called mirror matter. Its cosmological and astrophysical implications were widely studied, pointing out the importance to go further with research. In particular, the Big Bang nucleosynthesis provides a strong test for every dark matter candidate, since it is well studied and involves relatively few free parameters. The necessity of accurate studies of primordial nucleosynthesis with mirror matter has then emerged. I present here the results of accurate numerical simulations of the primordial production of both ordinary nuclides and nuclides made of mirror baryons, in presence of a hidden mirror sector with unbroken parity symmetry and with gravitational interactions only. These elements are the building blocks of all the structures forming in the Universe; therefore, their chemical composition is a key ingredient for astrophysics with mirror dark matter. The production of ordinary nuclides shows differences from the standard model for a ratio of the temperatures between mirror and ordinary sectorsx=T′/T≳0.3, and they present an interesting decrease of the abundance ofLi7. For the mirror nuclides, instead, one observes an enhanced production ofHe4, which becomes the dominant element forx≲0.5, and much larger abundances of heavier elements.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE AND 80 YEARS OF BIG BANG

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (supp01) ◽  
pp. 87-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
HARRY NUSSBAUMER
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Condensed State ◽  
De Sitter ◽  
Static Universe ◽  
Linear Distance ◽  
Velocity Relationship ◽  
Modern Cosmology ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

Modern cosmology began in 1917 when Einstein published his model of a static Universe built on general relativity. A few months later de Sitter came forward with a competing, but also static model which contained no matter but had the intriguing quality that the spectrum of a test particle appeared redshifted to a distant observer. It was thought that de Sitter's model might explain the redshifted spectra observed by Slipher in spiral nebulae. However, in 1927 Lemaître showed that de Sitter's model violated the principle of homogeneity. He then formulated a dynamical cosmological model and combined it with the available observations, showing that our Universe is expanding. He theoretically derived the linear distance–velocity relationship which today is called the "Hubble-relation." Hubble confirmed the relation in 1929 on purely observational grounds. 80 years ago, in 1931 in a letter to Nature, Lemaître suggested that the Universe had a definite beginning in a rapid expansion out of a highly condensed state: the primeval atom. This event became later known as the Big Bang.

scholarly journals The origin of life from primordial planets

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl H. Gibson ◽  
Rudolph E. Schild ◽  
N. Chandra Wickramasinghe
Keyword(s):  
Origin Of Life ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Space Telescopes ◽  
The Origin Of Life ◽  
Primordial Planets ◽  
Life On Earth ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
Primordial Soup ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Origin Of The Universe

AbstractThe origin of life and the origin of the Universe are among the most important problems of science and they might be inextricably linked. Hydro-gravitational-dynamics cosmology predicts hydrogen–helium gas planets in clumps as the dark matter of galaxies, with millions of planets per star. This unexpected prediction is supported by quasar microlensing of a galaxy and a flood of new data from space telescopes. Supernovae from stellar over-accretion of planets produce the chemicals (C, N, O, P, etc.) and abundant liquid-water domains required for first life and the means for wide scattering of life prototypes. Life originated following the plasma-to-gas transition between 2 and 20 Myr after the big bang, while planetary core oceans were between critical and freezing temperatures, and interchanges of material between planets constituted essentially a cosmological primordial soup. Images from optical, radio and infrared space telescopes suggest life on Earth was neither first nor inevitable.

The Battle for the Cosmos!

2019 ◽  
pp. 84-92
Author(s):  
Nicholas Mee
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Cosmic Microwave Background ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Microwave Background ◽  
George Gamow ◽  
Big Bang Theory ◽  
Fred Hoyle ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

We now know the universe began with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, but for several years debate raged between the supporters of the Big Bang theory led by George Gamow and supporters of the Steady State theory led by Fred Hoyle. Hoyle showed that the elements were synthesized in the stars, not in the Big Bang as Gamow believed. But Gamow’s colleagues Alpher and Herman predicted the existence of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) created immediately after the Big Bang. The CMB was discovered by Penzias and Wilson and this provided the crucial evidence that the Big Bang theory is correct. The CMB has since been studied in detail by a series of space probes.

scholarly journals Physics Essay: Six Baseless and Irrational Problems in Modern Cosmology

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Zifeng Li
Keyword(s):  
Black Hole ◽  
Dimensional Space ◽  
Big Bang ◽  
Mass Energy ◽  
Curved Space ◽  
Big Bang Theory ◽  
Modern Cosmology ◽  
Hubble’S Law ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

<p class="1Body">Analyzes the Big Bang theory, recession of galaxies, Hubble's law, multi-dimensional space, curved space and black hole in modern cosmology and points out that these six theories are all baseless and irrational, contrary to classical science. Promotes the use of plain view of the universe - the materialist view of space–time-mass-energy to study the universe. The observations and understanding of the universe are very limited now. Cosmology should be realistic, not based on irrational models.</p>

scholarly journals The Big Bang, modern cosmology and the fate of the Universe: impacts upon culture

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (S260) ◽  
pp. 33-38
Author(s):  
Lawrence M. Krauss
Keyword(s):  
Big Bang ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fundamental Science ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Cosmology ◽  
Equal Capacity ◽  
The Big Bang ◽  
The Universe

AbstractCosmological discoveries over the past century have completely changed our picture of our place in the universe. New observations have a realistic chance of probing nature on heretofore unimaginable scales, and as a result are changing the nature of fundamental science. Perhaps no other domain of science has an equal capacity to completely change our perspective of the world in which we live.

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